[jojo]

I dunno... The Reds were in the thick of things until the last week of the season yet attendance was only up roughly 8% from the previous year and the Reds were doing everything short of offering to swing by fans' houses and pick them up in order to get them to the stadium during some series with bonifide playoff implications (my 8 yo actually treated me to a Padres game/refreshments out of her own money)...

The FO claimed the Nats deal as proof they were willing to raise payroll... (well ok I guess, but wasn't a big component of that really about deciding Lopez wasn't worth his arbitration raise this off season?).

I just suspect that what Castellini means by payroll increase and what diehard Reds fans hope he means by payroll increase may not be the same thing...

Anyway, I've seen enough spin from the new ownership/leadership to have some healthy skepticism about certain issues...